sandy has stories of survival and heart break and arenewed interest in the question is there a higher power? >> as noshgers race to get back to normal, should we have a marathon in the city? no. it's friday, november 2nd. you're in "the cycle." in this it final week before the election we've seen seismic events that could shift a very close race. first, the devastation from superstorm sandy, 22 states affected and millions without power and billions of dollars in damage. the other big number this week, 7.9%. that's the unemployment number from the final jobs report friday before the election. a slight tick up, yes, but it was actually a better than expected report. a net gain of 171,000 new jobs added last month. good political news for the president. if the labor participation rate was the same as it was during the president's first year in

office, unemployment would be closer to 10%. today on the trail, very different spin from the same numbers. >> this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months. i know we're close to an election, but this isn't a game. these are people's jobs. these are people's lives. >> he said he was going to lower the unemployment rate down to 5.2% right now. today we learned that it's actually 7.9%. that's 9 million jobs short of what he promised. unemployment is higher today than when barack obama took office. >> we have our dynamic jobs report duo, bernstein and mauri maurice. that's a good number. how is it? >> it's a good number when you consider the past couple of months moved up on the payrolls 84,000. one of the things i always like

to do when we talk about this is smooth out the monthly noise in the data by taking ang average. if you look at the average over the past four months and the employment growth has picked up, it's 170,000 per month. if you look at the second quarter when we were in a definite slower job growth regime, we added 70,000 per month. what you hear the president reflecting on there and it's worn out in the numbers is acceleration. a faster pace of job growth that's a good thing. you mentioned the tick up in the unemployment rate. that increase is insignificant, but more importantly this time it's a function of more people coming into the labor market. a bunch of them got jobs, but more people came in than were employed. if that persists, it's actually a good sign suggesting that the improving labor market is pulling people in off the sidelines. >> peter, you always agree with jared, so go ahead. >> well, 174,000 is better. let's hope that no matter who

wins the election, we continue to see improvements. it's about half of what we need to get unemployment down to 6% over three years, which is a reasonable goal. what troubles me, though, about the jobs numbers, and i'm not saying they're cooked or anything like that, with jobs growth this fast and the kind of productivity growth we see, which is at about 2% a year, the gdp should grow at 3.5%. we'll have productivity growth slower than a snake's belly, but it's not all adding up the way it should. let's hope gdp growth speeds up and we finally get out of the funk. >> guys, either one of you, both of you, you have to help me understand how these are good numbers. 171,000 jobs barely keeps up with population growth. in fact, it doesn't. real unemployment is 14.6%. i'm having a hard time feeling

the silver lining here. >> actually, a couple of things. first of all, you know, when you say real unemployment, you're factoring in about 8 million people underemployed, so they're not working as many hours as they like. there is a difference there. second secondly, i think this idea that you have to have, you know, 170,000 jobs per month to bring the unemployment rate, it's lower than that. right now given the growth of the labor force, you probably need between, say 100 and 150 to get the unemployment rate ticking down not on a month-to-month basis but on trend. it's aa point lower than a year ago. >> peter? >> well, i think 171,000, that's people that have a job with an employer. you get a paycheck from someone else. remember, there are also a lot of self-employed people the in the economy. 171,000 implies job growth of about 200,000, and that's about 1.5 times what we need to keep

up with population growth. you couple that with reasonable productivity growth and you're starting to get an economy growing at a normal pace. one of two things will happen. either this jobs growth will slow down next year, or you see the kind of growth we need to get flying speed and feeling comfortable. >> s.e., if you're looking for things to feel less good about in this report, you can find them. i don't think it's so much the jobs count. the fact average weekly hours haven't grown over the past month. you can look at that as something that -- >> there's plenty, jared. there's plenty. i'm simply saying that feeling great about these numbers is a symptom of diminished expectations. >> it's a fair point. i wouldn't say i feel great. i would say we're moving in the right direction a little bit quicker than a few months ago. that's good. >> jared, let me ask you about a point you made earlier. you mentioned that the

unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% because more people entered the labor market. that's a change from recent trends where more people are leaving the labor market. does that mark an important turning point in in recovery? >> if it sticks, it absolutely does. we're concerned about the labor force rate. you could see a bunch of people on the sidelines saying they're not enough to get in the labor market to get gainful employment. what we saw this month was a beginning of a potential reversal of that trend. remember, you can't make inclusions like that based on month-end data. if it's the beginning of that trend, that would be positive. >> what do you think, peter? >> we'd have to see many more months like this. if the labor force participation rate was the same as when recovery began, it would be 9.6% unemployment, which is the same as mr. obama took office.

what troubles me about this report, though is that wages were flat. we have to start to see some wage gains. with the economy growing, there ought to be potential for people to earn more. i mean older peemt in hourly jobs. without that they won't be able to buy the houses and buy the cars and so forth to really glet a self-sustaining recovery so we're not nervous anymore. it's not as much as we need. we've been down so long. we need jobs growth at double this. wouldn't you say that, jared? >> i like the points you're making. on the wage side i agree with you. one of the things you've seen is while consumer spending has actually come up a bit, it's coming out of savings and not out of paychecks. peter has a point. >> you guys agree way too much. this is weird. >> to put this in perspective. it's encouraging news today, we had the news about housing

starts being up a few weeks ago, and you have the potential the at least it seems to have a real recovery next year. i wonder if that sets the stakes for next week's elections. we'll find out who will get credit for the recovery that's already begun and there are policy implications for that long-term. >> don't be so quick. it will behoove everyone who becomes president because of the fiscal cliff and problems in europe. i wouldn't want to be either guy inheriting this situation in 2013. it's hardly a cleaned-up mess. >> yeah. i guess i feel differently about that. certainly peter raises some potential serious head winds out there, but the housing market is beginning to come back. this recovery has never had that kind of housing market foundation under it the way i believe it does now. it's crawls off the bottom, so

we're not out of woods there. i think that's important. by the way, there's a real difference in the economic agenda of these two candidates, and i believe that the president's is one that can built on the momentum we've had thus far. when i hear mitt romney talk about his economic agenda, it's all the supply side tax cuts and that will do more harm than good. >> hold on, jared. >> we got to go. much as i would love to hear you debate that, we have to go. jared, you make me feel better. you'll be back. peter, we'll see you around. experts expect the cost of hurricane sandy to top $60 billion when you add in lost business and property damage. it is day four without power for 3.5 million people across parts of long island, new jersey and new york city. residents are facing widespread gas shortages, many waiting in lines for hours, three to five hours to fill the tank or get fuel for generators and many

can't fill the tank. even tree companies are putting jobs on hold because even they can't find enough gas to fuel their equipment. frustration is mounting in staten islands where residents say they're being ignored. that's where richard liu has been talking with survivors. why do they feel ignored throughout in staten island? >> reporter: toure, day five since hurricane sandy has hit, and they're asking the question, when will they get help? when can they get what you're talking about, electricity and more gasoline to fuel generators if they can't get electricity. they have situations like this in this part of staten island. this is called mansion road. they have yachts sitting in the middle of it. they cannot get through. this is a fire hazard. behind me yachts are 40 feet tall stacked one upon the other in front of front yards. down this road you see a lot of things. one thing you notice, there are cars. this morning it was empty, and

as residents come back to see what's become of their homes, they're finding this. they expected on day five it would not be so bad. they would like the government to be here. they'd like to have more solutions. those are the questions they're asking. there's always the evacuees, toure. there are five evacuation centers, five shelters, and we visited two of them today. one closed down and they moved them from one place to another. we spoke with the driver that moved them, and this is how he described those vac kevacuees. take a listen to danny connors. >> there was a couple kids on the bus with two different colored shoes and socks. my kids are older now, and you think about stuff like that. you realize what you got. >> reporter: toure, there's this to help the evacuees and those who don't have things. this is a hygiene kit and a cleanup kit. it has towels and plastic bags and clean wipes.

these hygiene kits are important too, huggy, toot busch and deodorant. these things are getting in here, but the residents want it a little faster, toure. >> i can understand that. thanks, richard. right now mitt romney is in ohio. you guessed it. let's listen in. >> the lieutenant-governor is a terrific person and wonderful lieutenant-governor. i love being out with her. she introduces me time and again. she's working tireless and also pat tee bury, tha four that leadership. senator portman, what a great friend. he was playing barack obama in our debate preparation, and he was tough. i'm glad i didn't have to debate him on tv. i got to tell you. quite a guy. you got a terrific senator, and i appreciate his help. the the auditor is here somewhere. someone says he's over here. he's my chairman in the states, and he was very hard-working from the very beginning when not

many people were behind me. now a lot more are behind me. i thank you. i want to thank steve cohen and the cohen family for their commitment to ohio, for their work here, for the people they employ here and for the commitment to america. thank you, steve, and thank you for your help. now, i have heard you chanting out here four more days, and you are right. there's not much time left before people make the decisions as to which way the country something to head. i think a lot of people made their mind up a long time ago who they were going to support. there are some folks who are getting ready to put aside the demands of daily living and ask themselves what's best for them and what's best for their family and what's best for america. as they go through that process, what i hope they'll do is put aside all the speeches and ads

and put aside the attacks and really focus on the record. as you know, talk is cheap. a record of accomplishment and achievement, that is something that happens with effort. that is something you can't fake, so i'd like the people across the country to give this election some real consideration to decide who can actually get america strong again. i know i know how to do. that's why i believe on november 6th, you'll give me the nod, and i'll become the next president. talk is remarkably cheap. four years ago then candidate obama promised us so very much, but he has fallen so far short of what he promised. as senator portman just said, he promised that he'd have a post partisan presidency, but it's been the most partisan i've seen with decisiveness and bitterness

and division and demonization. hallmarks of his presidency. he said he'd focus on creating jobs, but instead he focused on creating obama care, which killed jobs. he said he would cut the deficit in half, instead it's double what it was. he said he'd get unemployment by now down to 5.2%, and we learned today it ticked up to 7.9%. that's 9 million jobs short. those are real americans. can't find work, 23 million in all can't find work or can't find work that's up to their needs. can only five part-time job. this is a critical time. the president was a president who took office with the economy as the number one challenge, and you know, he's got a higher unemployment today than when he took office. think of that. >> the president is also scheduled to speak this hour in ohio. we'll bring that to you live also. the story everyone here in new york is talking about today. will the new york city marathon

help the city heal from sandy or make a bad situation worse? we'll spin on that and dive deep into our state of the day where i will make a change on my map as "the cycle" rolls on for a busy friday, november 2nd. begin. tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8.

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t minus four days until the election, and we're focuses on the big battlegrounds in play. colorado is still in the spotlight today with nine laektdal votes. the state went for obama in 2008 but went republican in 2004.

right now early voting shows republicans with an advantage. that could be key because if you look back at 2008, nearly 80% of colorado voters cast their votes before election day. candidates are focuses efforts here. the president held a rally in boulder yesterday. he'll be back on sunday, and mitt romney is here tomorrow. colorado was the site of the first presidential candidate where romney came out the victor. can he do the same on tuesday? i have colorado going blue on my map. >> all right, lady. >> i think there's two pieces of silver lining here for romney, aside from that early voting statistic we just discussed. colorado has a largish mormon population and they've been busing mormons in actually to work on romney's ground game. that could help. the jobless rate is not great in colorado. na might make mitt's message more effective. i'm sure i referenced this book before, the blueprint, that

chronicles the five years colorado flipped from blue to red in time for -- >> red to blue. >> red to blue in time for 2008. the kind of groundwork that was laid down by democratic activists and union guys, that is not dismantled overnight. i think that a lot of that is still very in play and very much foundational and that will give obama the win. >> i had a harder time making the call on who to give colorado to than any other state. i ultimately went with romney, but i can be easily persuaded. i have a feeling it's the closest state margin-wise election night. colorado symbolizes the political promise the obama presidency began with and the political reality of the presidency. colorado is a long-time target for democrats. they finally flipped in 2008. it was republican for decades except for in 1992 and flipped it in aa big way in 2008. nine point victory. the persist ents unemployment

and economic problems dragged down the approval rating. colorado was ready it to revert to form, to old republican form in 2010, part of the national anti-republicans. a funny thing happened in the campaign. in the u.s. senate race it was buck against bennett. ken buck likened homosexuality to alcoholism and alienated this growing population of college educated socially liberal women who are upset with obama on the economy, but because of social issues they move strongly against ken buck. you see a big gender gap that took place in colorado, 56% to 40%. the growing latino population in colorado and the other thing in 2010 in colorado is he imploded and it became tom tancredo, the former republican congressman. he had the latino vote in

colorado. what would have been a republican win in the senate race, because of those factors was a narrow michael benefit win. that is the model the obama campaign has been pursuing nationally here. this year you drive up the support among socially liberal women and drive up the latino support. we won a state they should have won in 2010 and win an election they should have won. >> you're the only person having colorado going red? >> i have it failing in colorado but working elsewhere. >> like you colorado and florida were the two toughest calls for me on my map. i muoved colorado in the blue column like the brilliant s.e. cupp. i've been having my doubts about colorado. looking at the early voting numbers, but yesterday the president was in boulder at university of colorado. i was looking at that crowd, those young people are so fired-up. there were over 10,000 of them

there. any youth apathy seems to be gone. totally stoked, i might say. and on a completely separate note, there will be another issue on the ballot on tuesday, amendment 64 to legalize marijuana use. >> that could explain something. >> in all seriousness, obviously voters under 30 by a broad margin support legalizing marijuana. i think it could drive up -- drive more young people the to the polls. they might be more enthusiastic. >> i support that idea. ij colorado is blue. i want to revisit the conversation from yesterday where i said florida would go red. i got a couple of calls from serious pollsters said that said i was wrong. they said florida will go blue. on my map they talked about puerto ricans, second generation cubans and younger cubans will carry the president and how florida represents the changing

dynamic of america. the panhandle is white but the rest is going more brown and black and white people are not in charge of the rest of the stay electorally as they used to be. this win in particular forces the gop to change their stance on immigration. otherwise, we're going to continue to lose elections for a long time. the pea party is chasing latinos out of the gop, and that is not a long-term winning strategy. >> before we go to break, we talked about and wanted to talk about mayor bloomberg's decision to hold the new york city mare than this weekend. with all due respect mr. mayor, what the hell are you thinking? new york city is a disaster area. thousands are homeless or displaced, hundreds of thousands still without power in queens, manhattan and brooklyn. the subways aren't fully functional. the gas stations are out of gas. staten island where the marathon will kick off with celebratory fan fare is screams for more attention as they try to recover from the devastation to their

neighborhood. >> they're putting people in the marathon in hotels instead of people that have no place to live and three, four hours to get over the bridge because of tenths for running. they should worry about people down here bringing in generators. >> nearly 100 people have died. heart-broken residents of the five boroughs do you want want to watch out of towners jog through the neighborhood as they dig out of the wreckage. nor should we divert much needed resources away from the areas hardest hit here and in new york to accommodate the race. it sounds like 47 thoi thousa,0s to me. they should run to seaside, new jersey or breezy point, queens and lend a hand. this is a great tradition, and we have our hands full. do the right thing. postpone this race, mayor bloomberg. the president is moments away

from speaking at baulgttlegroun ohio. we're bringing it to you live coming up. ♪ [ crowd cheering ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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it has been quite the week for last minute endorsements. yesterday as we reported first on "the cycle," new york city mayor michael bloomberg threw his support behind president obama. he also endorsed obama's re-election effort. today mitt romney received the backing of charles krout krauthammer. our next guest has worked for both republican and democratic administration during his time leading the government accountability office. this year he decides to endorse

mitt romney. here's the ceo and president of the come back america initiative david walker. you have made the debt your big issue this year. you're endorsing mitt romney. tell us why? >> i came back from a 9,500-mile tour and met with thousands of vote voters around the country. 97% believe it should be the top priority. only 8% have confidence in the current line-up getting the job done. i endorsed him not because of his plan, because neither candidate has a plan that i think is details enough for the american people, but because his proven leadership ability and track record of transforming organizations and working on a bipartisan basis and i think it's critically important that we have inspired leadership today. this country faces key challenges that are getting worse with the passage of time,

and we're not making progress. >> i'm having a little time understanding this, because the debt is such an important issue to you. if you look at the framework for what mitt romney is proposing, it's something we've seen before. there's a 20% across the board tax cut and use talking about ends the alternative minimum tax and tacking on $2 trillion more in defense spending. he says he will close unspecified -- end unspecified tax deductions, which he refuses to spell out because they're politically poisonous. this is the basic recipe of trickle-down economics in the reagan and bush years, both of which resulted in exploding defici deficits. what am i missing here? >> i have the benefit of meeting one on one with mitt romney and paul ryan and probing what are their thoughts with regard to taxes and defense. you're talking about the things being thrown out, but when you look at a 20% rate reduction and

when you look at what rate are now, that will take the top rate to 28%. we lose 1.1 trillion a year in revenue through the deductions and exemptions and credits and exclusions. over ten years that's probably 15 trillion, when you count inflation. so all you have to do is is eliminate about a third to 40% of the deductions, exemptions and credits and exclusions, and you can be revenue neutral. with regard to defense, we're spending 4.6% of gdp on defense. he's committed to spend 4. 4 is less hanthan 4.6. my personal view is we shouldn't commit to 4 or more than 3 and it should be facts and circumstances and see what happens. >> the economists that look at this say he has promised that he will not hit the middle class at all, only affect upper income earners. if you eliminate all of the deductions only for upper income

earners, it leaves you short for a tax cut. >> massively short. >> has he spelled on you for you specifically what he will cut in term was deductions for the middle class? did he spell something out for you? these numbers do not add up. >> i understand your frustration. first, who defines what the middle class is? that's a problem. secondly in all candor neither governor romney nor president obama has laid out a comprehensive plan with enough specificity that meets the criteria that i laid out as part of come back america initiative. neither one has. therefore, not being able to effectively analyze a plan like every other american, i have to go on leadership ability. i have to go on proven experience and track record. >> can i put it to you this day? we have a tax plan that doesn't add up. it sydromes major deficits unless you tell the middle class

all the deductions are gone. you look at obama. one fundamental difference is he says you know what we're going food? we'll end the bush tax cuts for upper income earners. that is a step towards the clowing the deficit. i see more about addressing it from that alone from obama than anything from romney, which screams exploding deficit. >> you i go forred the fact that he's committed he will not allow the deficit to increase. in fact, he's willing to hold himself accountable for significant reduction in debt as a percentage to the economy. here's one thing about this. you can't play games with the numbers. ultimately one of the things that you really can hold a president responsible and accountable for is how do the numbers actually turn out? what does the deficit look like? what does the debt look like? what does economic growth look like? what does employment and inflation look like? these are objective numbers to hold people accountable for, and

he will be hold accountable. he has proven leadership abilities in all sectors of the economy. he has change and experience in all three sectors of the economy. he's proven he can work on a bipartisan basis, and he has experience that i think demonstrates that he is willing to do the right tling thihing e he's a one-term president. our country is in serious trouble right now. >> this is s.e. here. i don't know if you can convince steve that mitt romney is the guy for the job. tell me why maybe president obama is not the right guy for another four years. >> first, i truly believe that both president obama and mitt romney want to do a grand bargain, but i don't think they have the same leadership ability to get it done. i think president obama's biggest problem is he's not led. and when he had the senate, the house and the white house, he spent too much time on the

affordable care act. that poisoned washington, because even though a majority of the american people doesn't want the affordable care act, nonetheless the effort was taken to pass it on a straight party line vote. that poisoned the well. i think the worst of all scenarios is the house stays in republican hands which it's going to. the senate stays in democratic hands and president obama stays in the white house. we haven't gotten any progress on that in the last two years. why do you think it's different in the next two years? by the way, it's likely that the reps take the senate in 2014. so i think you have to be recognizing reality. it's not just who the president is, although that's by far the most important. it's also who controls the house, who controls the senate, and who can get a deal done. >> sounds to me like your plan to reward the mcconnell and boehner strategy of obstructing

everything the president wants to do. >> absolutely not. look at the house changes. that's a change. if the senate changes and that's a change and if the white house changes that's a change. i think at least one of them needs to change if you want to get different results in washington, d.c. >> the house would be the best one. >> republican obstruction is another subject of conversation. we'll get to that another time. david walker, thanks for joining us. we're still waiting on the president to speak in ohio, and we'll have it for you ahead. up next, a break from politics answering the age old question, does heaven actually exist? the first time there may be scientific proof turning skeptics into believers. new trident layers juicy berry + tangy tangerine

is a thrilling, dual-flavored ride to mouth fun-town. but it's not like everyone is going to break into a karaoke jam session. ♪ this will literally probably never happen.

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some of the tragic stories from sandy has been difficult to comprehend. this one is a man sheltered in his home doing what authorities told him to do when a tree crashed through a roof and killed him. a couple out walking the dog hit by a tree. both humans are killed but the dog survived. we're not in control of our own destiny. perhaps a higher power is making that decision. our next guest knows all about the fine line between life and death having walked it himself. >> i was just a piece of -- a speck of awareness mainly in a kind of dark, murky environment. then i was rescued by this beautiful, spinning, white light that had a melody, indescribably beautiful melody with it that opened up into a bright valley. there were blossoming flowers, and just an incredible, rich,

ultra real world. >> evan alexander nervous a coma for a full week after he contracted a rare bacterial infection. his entire cortex was completely dead. his doctors talked about taking him off life support, and evan woke up. he believes he returned from another consciousness than he dreamed existed. he said it was heaven, but this time it's different. evan is actually dr. evan alexander, a harvard-trained brain surgeon. his scientific explanation is that he was actually in heaven up. dr. alexander is author of the new book "proof of heaven up. "t thank you for joins us. >> thank you for having me. >> one thing that struck me about your account of experience

is you were guided by this being you described in that clip we just played, and you find out after the fact this was actually your biological sister who you had never met before. you were adopted as a baby and never met your biological sister before. she died two years prior. tell us about that and your experience in general. >> yes, it was -- the experience itself occurred when i -- my brain was -- should have been capable of no experience whatsoever. i spent seven days in a deep coma on a ventilator with my brain covered with pus and really shouldn't have been able to have any experience, much less the very rich, intricate and complex reality i had. when i first came back, all my old memories of my life before were gone, and i had this beautiful odyssey i'd been through. i spent months trying to

understand that and come to grips with it reported as a neuroscientific report. i came to realize none of my hypothesises explained how it could have been happened. >> you talk about your experience in what we think of as heaven. did you get any sense while you were there, that there's another side, there's a hell? >> well, i really saw the but fee a beauty and love in the gateway realm, and that's a beautiful place where i found that beautiful woman who was with me on a butterfly wing and going through idealic valleys. it was from there outside of this universe to what i call the core, which is with a loving, divine presence and a brilliant orb of light and all these le lessons. i would keep cycling through

that. i was trying to understand this based on brain principles, and what i came to realize after months of analysis is it didn't happen in my brain or physical universe, but it was very real. that sister you mentioned was actually the keep to understanding it all about four months after i came out of a coma. >> i'm going to take a skeptical approach to this one. we heard lots of stories through the years of different near-death experiences from people, and i don't doubt the emotional impact this could have on anybody. i think there are a lot of ne o neurosciencists that say what people go through is a phenomenon of the brain. it's not unlike something induced with a psychedelic drug for instance. you say you had complete inactive yags of your cerebral cortex and that higher order brain functions were all offline. marco hen at ucla said coma does

not equate to shutting down the cerebral cortex. what you're describing would actually be 100% brain death, which would be fatal for anybody. so there was not complete det deactivation here and it's possible it was going on in your mind. >> the important thing to understand is this was a very severe meningitis, and very rare. even when i got to the emergency room, having gone into coma in about three or four hours, i was looking at best at 10% survival chance. by the end of the week that was probably down to 2% survival with no chance of return to function. if i'd been in coma for any reason other than severe meningitis, i wouldn't have ever been able to include this happened outside of my brain and outside of the physical realm. it was only being in coma from a very severe meningitis that i conclude this very rich,

vibrant, interactive odyssey i went through happened in coma. there are anchors in time to thi thanks that happened in the earthly realm that showed me it was deep inside the coma. >> i had a similar moment when i said, there must be a god. i know how that changed my life. so on you is your newfound certainty that there is a heaven, that there is a god changed the way you lived your life? >> well, it's basically i now have a completely different the understanding of the meaning of our existence, a completely different understanding of consciousness. of course, before my coma i was kind of a conventional neurosurgeon with a neuroscientific view. brain creates consciousness. i didn't see any way soul or spirit lived beyond the death of brain and body. now i see how consciousness occurs in a richer form free of

brain, we're conscious in spite of our brain. in fact, you have to go deep into the hard problem of consciousness, which is one of the most vexing scientific problems that exists and the enigma of the mechanics to get to the deepest answer. >> thank you so much for sharing this with us. >> president obama is getting set to take the stage in lima, ohio. the election is now foia days aaway. this is an event we have to cycle on the weekend. tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. we'll have a special show live from democracy plaza. can't you just taste that freedom? time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ses carney works renaissance fairs, haunted houses and nightclubs. he hocks from his bone shop cart selling bones, skulls and other macabre items.

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and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. we're days away from a nerve-racking election day and an epic conclusion of a battle. the two men are as different as i dichotomy from a novelist's imagination. past versus present with romney looking ward cleaver and obama embodying a racial presence. the other never knew his father and consciously shaped himself the way many heroes of american literature have. they're the plutocrat versus the cool guy. the stiff stepdad versus the pop culture icon. mr. capable who can solve your

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all about ohio today as just pretty much every day. we just heard from mitt romney there this hour. he has another event there tonight. meantime, the president is running late but he's being introduced now. he'll be in the buckeye state every day from now until the election. that's how important both candidates know ohio is. we'll be covering both campaigns for you here on msnbc. but now at the top of the hour, which means it's time for our friend and neighbor, martin bashir. >> thank you so much, toure. it's friday, november the 2nd. mitt romney's whole argument for why he should be